Muddy paws

[Louise Perry]

Okay does anyone have a magic trick up their sleeves for coping with muddy paws when coming in from the garden? Now I admit that my lawn needs re - turfing but the caked in wet mud are unbelievable. I now have to have watering can and towels by back door and it takes ages! How do u lot cope with multiple dogs? 

[Jennifer Martin]

Best thing I have taught Rio, is, as soon as he comes in from the garden I say 'get in the shower'  he goes into the utility room and stands in the walk in shower, he now lifts his paws for me to rinse, then I shower his legs and 'under carriage' off and towel dry him. No more muddy paw prints on the carpets!.

Didn't have a downstairs shower when I had Jinty and would have two buckets of warm water and a jug at the back door ready, the suggestion of a warm tap outside for those who don't have the luxury of a downstairs walk in shower,-  is a good idea combined with a shower tray,  it needs to be undercover or in a shed to save you getting wet when it's raining and I would think if you have more than one dog a pen or run to keep them confined whilst you deal with them.

So far this morning Rio has been rinsed off 3 times!.

[Peter Hennig]

I find as they burst through the door slip the hold you have on them then bound over the bed and lounge all the mud is off their feet .....problem solved apart from my wife's screams

[Sheree Parrish]

That's really funny Peter, you've got the setters down to a tee.  Henry once doubled back on me after I had just got him out of the bath, we were off to a champ show so it was an early start, about 4 in the morning, anyway, Henry made his way to our bedroom and woke my sleeping hubby up with a slobbery kiss and a drenching.  Hubby also screamed :-)

[Elizabeth Ball]

No major solution here - for the toilet trips in the garden we have trained Bella to stay on the mat by the door until we have wiped her feet off with a towel (I have just purchased Mr B and I some lovely new fluffy ones so we can donate our old ones to Bella as we seem to be getting through quite a volume).  This is quite effective and there is just a little radius of paw prints around the mat when she thinks I only mean keep the back feet on it, but that can quickly be mopped up and doesn't require me to do the whole conservatory.  The only time this fails is if someone has arrived whilst she has been outside and clearly the best way to clean off the paws is on them, the mat doesn't get a look in and I have to rugby tackle her to the ground wielding the towel.

After muddy walks it is a good sluice down in the Utility Room, I have a big bowl/tray that is designed for cleaning the shelves in your oven (from Lakeland) that can fit a standing setter in it (admittedly Bella is a bit of a petite one) so Bella stands in that whilst I rinse her off with a jug.  No chance of getting anywhere near her with a hose but she will be quite polite for a warm rinse and then she stands nicely for a towel down giving each paw in turn (not so a proper bath which is just a big water fight resulting in me looking like I have been in a Wet T-Shirt Competition and her crying like a banshee).   I am currently in search of a new Sink as we are having the Utility re-done and I want one big enough for a Setter to go in so if anyone knows of any manufacturers then please let me know.  So far I have only found an industrial one designed for hospitals which wasn't really the aesthetic I was going for!

 

My Mother-In-Law bought us the Vax Hard Floor Cleaner for christmas as she said she felt sorry for my constant plight (either that or she is giving me a not very subtle hint that my house is a shambles) and I have used it for the first time today.  The colour of the water when you tip it away is mortifying so it was definitely effective but I wouldn't say it was any faster than a mop but then I was trying to be very thorough, the advantage is that it leaves the floor nearly dry which is a big plus.

 

[Shaun and Julie Nicholls]

Not just the paws its the whole dog in this weather, lots of towels and in the shower he loves it. Keeping him calm when he gets out of the shower is the problem, it seems being clean puts up his energy levels, good fun trying to dry him with the towels, it is just one big game.

[Lois McCullough]

Not just muddy paws it's the whole dog for us ever tried keeping your young Irish out of the pond? The pond (non man made) takes up a third of half an acre Micawber just has to swim and when it was covered in ice we were there watching his every move and continually breaking it round the edge. The ice has melted and back to his old tricks straight into the breakfast room dripping on the yorkstone floor have decided I like the 'mud colour' and with it's underfloor heating it dries quite quickly. Sorry can't really help on this one have tried towels on the floor but the 'boys' drag them all over the place thinking they're good for a game of 'tug of war' I'd go for the 'mud look' until spring arrives!!